US assures NKorea of 'robust' direct talks channel

In this photo released by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service in Tokyo, U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is welcomed by an unidentified North Korean official, right, upon arrival at Pyongyang airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. Bosworth began a rare trip to North Korea Tuesday for the highest-level talks with the communist nation in more than a year as a senior U.S. official warned of strong sanctions against Pyongyang unless it rejoins international nuclear talks. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)
— AP

In this photo released by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service in Tokyo, U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, is welcomed by an unidentified North Korean official, right, upon arrival at Pyongyang airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. Bosworth began a rare trip to North Korea Tuesday for the highest-level talks with the communist nation in more than a year as a senior U.S. official warned of strong sanctions against Pyongyang unless it rejoins international nuclear talks. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)
/ AP

But in recent months, the North has reached out to the U.S. and South Korea in an about-face that analysts and officials say shows it is feeling the pain of U.N. sanctions imposed to punish the North for its nuclear test in May. Since August, the North has freed detained U.S. and South Korean citizens and taken other conciliatory steps, including inviting Bosworth for direct talks.

Bosworth is accompanied by the lead U.S. nuclear negotiator, Sung Kim, as well as atomic and Asia specialists from the Defense Department and the White House. The delegation was to return to Seoul on Thursday and then visit China, Japan and Russia to brief them on the talks before returning to Washington.